Friends and neighbours...

Ron with 'Shell'

I'm delighted to welcome Ron Flaxman to my blog. He was rather lost in Firstsite and looking for the artwork his neighbour has in the Open Exhibition. Ceramic, he said. Took a while to remember her name, but once we had that we were able to use the catalogue (in alphabetical order of first name) and, with the help of a gallery assistant, to find the red pyramid. And there it was, a lovely shell carefully constructed out of ..well...not quite tesserae, but the Roman connection holds I think. Thanks, Ron, for guiding me to this quiet, reflective and beautiful piece.

'Shell' by Barbara Chaplin.

While in the gallery, choosing 5 pieces as my favourites (revealed tomorrow), I overheard someone voicing the obvious point that if you put 700 pieces of art by locals on the walls you are guaranteed that all their friends and family will come. Well...yes.. but at least they're there and maybe... maybe they'll come back.
And the same person also observed that with 700 works you can't focus or hope to make sense of it. But that's the point - a crazy explosion of art that you can't possibly take in as a whole, so you just have to go with the - 'ooh look, I like that' approach. Instant gratification, no interpretation? - seems ideal for the 21st century! Check back tomorrow for my 5 pieces (actually I've just realised I've missed-out the knitted seagull - perhaps a late revision is in order?)... take part via Facebook.

Song - Chilites - We are Neighbours, - super riff and great sentiment - enjoy it Ron!